1. Audience Response
Theories
Rachel Heyes
The Manchester College

2. Consumption
Passive Active
Audiences are believed to respond
passively to media products – That is,
the media tells them something, and
they all respond in the same way
Audiences are made up of individuals
who each respond in different ways,
depending on their own opinions,
experiences and personalities

4. Hypodermic Needle
Model
The hypodermic syringe theory is that the media is like a
syringe which injects ideas, attitudes and beliefs into the
audience
• In some cases this may work, but the problem is that
people are affected in different ways by the media - films,
advertising, newspapers, television etc.
• The ‘audience’ are also now much more critically aware of
the media and having ideas ‘injected’ into them.
• However, this theory still has uses - i.e. watching violent
crimes can make you violent, for example the Jamie Bulger
killers, copycat crimes, the ‘Power Rangers’ fighting in play
grounds.

6. Two Step Flow
The two-step flow theory suggests:
• We are much more likely to be affected by the media if we
discuss it with others.
• Our opinions are affected by the way our friends etc have viewed
the media, i.e. discussions on Eastenders - Cat and Zoe, views on
documentaries etc.
• The people we discuss our ideas with are called ‘opinion
leaders’.
• This is another theory where the James Bulger case has been
cited - apparently one boy talked to his friend about a film he had
watched and apparently influenced the other’s behaviour.

8. Uses and Gratifications
Theory
According to uses and gratification theory we all have different uses for
the media and we make choices over what we want to watch. We are
expecting something from our use of the media.
1. Information - we may want to find out about society and the world. We
want to satisfy our curiosity.
2. Personal Identity - we may watch television for models for our
behaviour. For instance - we may identify with soap characters or
their situations.
3. Integration and Social Interaction - we use the media to find out more
about the circumstances of other people perhaps through empathy
or sympathy.
4. Entertainment - enjoyment, relaxation, fill the time.
CRITICISMS: You don’t always choose what media you use - you may be a
secondary or tertiary user. Your mum has the remote control! You have
no control over what posters you see on your way to work or college.

9. Audience Response
Models
Rachel Heyes
The Manchester College

10. Reception Theory
Preferred Negotiated Oppositional
The preferred reading is
the reading media
producers hope
audiences will take
from the text.
Negotiated reading is
when audiences
acknowledge the
preferred reading, but
modify it to
suit their own values
and opinions.
Audience members
from outside the target
audience may reject the
preferred reading,
receiving their own
alternative message.